The result of the match will not be of much importance, but the captains Dhoni and Ricky Ponting will like to start the tournament on a winning note right from the start.
Published: Feb 13, 2011, 12:41 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 13, 2011, 12:41 PM (IST)
Mumbai, February 12, 2011
By CricketCountry staff
Probably, the 2011 World Cup begins here – India vs Australia. India are World Cup favourites and Australia as usual, can’t be written off. India will be cautious after their ODI series loss to South Africa, whereas Australia are riding high on their 6-1 thrashing of England.
A warmup match against such quality opposition will be important for both India and Australia. But at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, India will start having an upper hand with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gamghir back in the team and home conditions. Also, captain MS Dhoni will try setting the best bowling combination between Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth before the tournament begins.
Australia will look to acclimatise and get ready for the World Cup. Their confidence would be high after ODI series win against England, but still have a few issues to be settled. Skipper Ricky Ponting’s fingure is still sore and he won’t be feilding in the slips. But Ponting is totally determined to lead Australia right from the start in their World Cup defense.
The result of the match will not be of much importance as far as the World Cup is concerned, but the captains Dhoni and Ponting will like to start the tournament on a winning note right from the start.
India are undoubtedly the favourites for the World Cup due to many reasons, such as playing at home, a strong team and Sachin Tendulkar, whereas Australia will be under a little pressure being the defending champions and also, their leader Ponting has to prove that he’s the right man for the job.
India’s Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Munaf Patel will try to improvise, whereas Ponting, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and David Hussey will look to get some runs. Australian pace attack is raring to go, and so are the Indian batsmen. An exciting match to watch!
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